Free The Winged Serpent (The Order of the Oath) by Nadia Aidan Page B

if she could not fulfill the tasks required of her.
    She’d taken the oath.
    Claudius’ hand inched its way across her shoulder, down the length of her arm, when he seized her breast, she gasped, revulsion coiling in the pit of her stomach. The touch of a man she did not desire should not have affected her this way.
    As if it had a mind of its own, her gaze searched deep within the shadows and found Cyrus. He stood beyond Claudius, his body rigid.
    Her blood chilled when Claudius’ lips began to kiss her neck, his hands fondling her in earnest.
    She did not take her eyes from Cyrus.
    She could not read him. His face revealed nothing. The only hint he possessed a single emotion was the throbbing vein, which jumped in his forehead.
    Cyrus had sought to kiss her earlier, and she’d pulled away.
    Claudius lifted his head, and for the moment she returned her attention to him. His lips hovered above hers, so close, his every breath stroked her chin.
    She could not kiss him, not when she’d denied Cyrus.
    Aurora shrank away, her hands already reaching for the hem of her tunica .
    “If I am to fight nude, would you not wish to view your wares before any other?”
    A fire leapt in Claudius’ eyes, the notion of seeing her naked distracting him from the fact she’d thwarted his purpose of kissing her.
    Claudius stood before her, Cyrus just behind him, so that when she pulled off her garment, Claudius did not realize she stared straight at Cyrus, her gaze only for him.
    Did Cyrus know she saw only him?
    Did he realize the naked desire blazing in her eyes was for him, and only him?
    If he did, he did not show it. He stood as rigid and motionless as one of the statues in the garden, his gaze looking, but not seeing. It was as if she was invisible, it was as if she did not exist as he stared through her.
    Aurora looked away in disappointment, her cheeks boiling with humiliation, but she did not have long to dwell upon Cyrus’ rejection because seconds later Cornelia burst into the atrium, her eyes glittering with fury.
    “What is the meaning of this? Clothe yourself, you whore,” she shrieked.
    Aurora was in the middle of tugging on her tunica when Cornelia lunged for her as if she would strike. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cyrus move, but Claudius was the one to stop his crazed wife.
    He stepped between Aurora and Cornelia, his hand catching his wife’s arm before she could hit her.
    “Calm yourself,” thundered Claudius. “You are making a spectacle out of nothing.”
    “Nothing?” Cornelia’s eyes bulged. “Get her out of here,” she commanded Cyrus. “Get her out of my sight this moment.”
    Aurora was all too happy to leave as she let Cyrus usher her from the room. She could hear Cornelia’s shrieking screams all the way down the hall, long after she and Cyrus were gone.
    Cyrus walked beside her, his long strides eating up the distance as if Pluto nipped at his heels. She did not say a word until they passed through the gate to the quarters of the slaves and turned a corner, the shadows of the space affording them a measure of privacy.
    She touched his arm that was bare beneath her fingertips. When he jerked away she let her hand drop to her side where it remained, curled tight into a fist.
    Her touch had stilled him, but when he moved to walk away, she blocked his path.
    His eyes flashed dangerously. She was certain hers did the same as rage, dark and hot, seared her blood.
    “I do not deserve your anger.”
    Cyrus remained silent, every muscle in his body corded with tension, yet he did not move, and his expression was inscrutable.
    Frustration and fury warred for dominance within her. She could not be certain which won out when she spoke again.
    “You nearly kissed me earlier then you asked for my friendship. But now you are solemn and cold.” She jabbed her finger into his chest, punctuating each word. “Well, I do not wish such a person within my life if you can gaze upon me with such disdain. If